Researchers at the University of Washington have recently created RoboFly, a 74-mg flapping-wing robot that can move in the air, on the ground, and on water surfaces. Insect-size robots could have numerous useful applications, for instance, aiding search and rescue (SAR) missions, simplifying the inspection of infrastructures and speeding up agricultural […]

Inspired by embryonic wound closure, we present mechanically active dressings to accelerate wound healing. Conventional dressings passively aid healing by maintaining moisture at wound sites. Recent developments have focused on drug and cell delivery to drive a healing process, but these methods are […]

This project aims to study self-organizing materials that are able to adapt their structure and associated properties in response to a changing environment. Inspired by the organization of bacterial communities, we aim to develop self-organizing, adaptive and self-healing materials that can be further used, for instance, in sensing or drug delivery.

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This paper presents the design and development of a bio-inspired flapping wing type Micro Air Vehicle (MAV). Bio-inspiration is implicated to design a flapping wing aerodynamic ornithopter, controlled using a micro scale integrated on- board electronic circuits and communication device. The study of flapping flight from an experimental standpoint brought insight […]

Researchers from Rutgers University, New Jersey, have created bio-inspired, programmable micro-needles that enhance tissue adhesion using Projection micro-stereolithography (PµSL). Influenced by the micro-hooks of parasites, barbed stingers of honeybees, and quills of porcupines, 4D printed backward-facing barbs were fabricated and designed to deform horizontally to be minimally […]

A jumping leg with one degree of freedom (DOF) is characterized by high rigidity and simple control. However, robots are prone to motion failure because they might tip over during the jumping process due to reduced mechanism flexibility. Mechanism design, configuration optimization, and experimentation were conducted in this study to achieve […]

Plants like the Venus flytrap close their mouth-like leaves at almost imperceptible speed. Based on these snap-buckling mechanics, researchers designed soft actuators that can change volume at incredible speeds. Two elastic membranes, much likes the ‘lips’ on the Venus flytrap, are activated pneumatically with a pressurized chamber. This innovation could be […]

Pest insects and other parasites latch onto their hosts by inserting backward-facing barbs into their tissue. Scientists have now copied that strategy, in a system that could someday replace painful hypodermic needles. Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw-2r6ybWaQ

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Researchers from Rutgers University, New Jersey, have created bioinspired, programmable microneedles that enhance tissue adhesion using Projection micro-stereolithography (PµSL). Influenced by the microhooks of parasites, barbed stingers of honeybees, and quills of porcupines, 4D printed backward-facing barbs were fabricated and designed to deform horizontally to be minimally invasive upon tissue contact.

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A new bird-friendly glass has been developed that could prevent the deaths and serious injuries of countless birds that fly at high speed into glass windows. Birds do not see transparent glass, but are misled by the landscape reflected in the window or seen through it into thinking their way is […]

Nearly 12 million wounds are treated in emergency departments throughout the United States every year. The limitations of current treatments for complex, full-thickness wounds are the driving force for the development of new wound treatment devices that result in faster healing of both dermal and epidermal tissue. […]

Scientists who designed a marine robot to survey ocean life were inspired by eel larvae: In May 2016, Christianson and his colleagues at UCSD set out to build this soft robot. They weren’t the first to look to the natural world for this purpose—other research groups have used fish and manta […]

Abstract: Homarus americanus, known as American lobster, is fully covered by its exoskeleton composed of rigid cuticles and soft membranes. These soft membranes are mainly located at the joints and abdomen to connect the rigid cuticles and greatly contribute to the agility of the lobster in swimming and preying. Herein, we […]

Abstract: Inspired by embryonic wound closure, we present mechanically active dressings to accelerate wound healing. Conventional dressings passively aid healing by maintaining moisture at wound sites. Recent developments have focused on drug and cell delivery to drive a healing process, but these methods are often complicated by […]

Mantis shrimp developed an internal structure to protect its club it uses to attack the preys with great force. This unique structure that wraps around its club protects it from being damage as it attacks its preys. The University of California Riverside reverse engineering the club and has determined that it […]

Generating electricity from raindrops efficiently has gone one step further. A research team has recently developed a droplet-based electricity generator (DEG), featured with a field-effect transistor (FET)-like structure that allows for high energy-conversion efficiency and instantaneous power density increased by thousands times compared to its counterparts without FET-like structure. This would […]

Researchers looked into shark skin to create more aerodynamic horizontal stabilizers for aircrafts. Shark skin is unique in that it has drag-reducing properties that allow sharks to more easily in the water. This property would be very useful in aeronautics as it is […]

Abstract: Growth of ice on surfaces poses a challenge for both organisms and for devices that come into contactwith liquids below the freezing point. Resistance of some organisms to ice formation and growth, eitherin subtidal environments (e.g. Antarctic anchor ice), or in environments with moisture and cold air (e.g. plants, intertidal) […]

“Small-scale drones have enough sensing and computing power to find use across a growing number of applications. However, flying in the low–Reynolds number regime remains challenging. High sensitivity to atmospheric turbulence compromises vehicle stability and control, and low aerodynamic efficiency limits flight duration. Conventional wing designs have thus far failed to […]

A new class of robots, called FlyCroTugs, can lift objects 40 times their weight, using design ideas borrowed from wasps and geckos. You might know wasps for their ability to brainwash cockroaches or inflict one of the most painful stings on Earth—one so powerful that the actual […]

Rapidly running arthropods like cockroaches make use of passive dynamics to achieve remarkable locomotion performance with regard to stability, speed, and maneuverability. In this work, we take inspiration from these organisms to design, fabricate, and control a 10cm, 24 gram underactuated hexapedal robot capable of running at 14 body lengths per […]

When biomedical engineer Jeff Karp has questions, he looks to animals for answers. In 2009, Karp gathered his team at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston to brainstorm novel ways to capture circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the bloodstream. They mulled over the latest microfluidic devices. […]

This paper uses a bio-inspired design strategy based on tree branch joints to improve the damage tolerance of co-cured composite T-joints. The design of tree branch joints at different length scales from the microstructural to the macro-length scale was investigated. X-ray computed tomography of a pine tree revealed three main features […]